March 13th

Woke up today with Milou back in my hands and a few more maintenance things to take care of. I was able to pop down to the local auto parts store and get some oil and I had a filter shipped to Ethan and Gusty’s house. I changed the oil quickly in the drive way. Milou takes a lot, almost 4 gallons! The old oil was pretty dark so I was happy to get that swapped out. In addition to changing the oil, I checked my solar batteries and refilled a few cells. Always good to have things topped off and status quo.

In the afternoon Ethan, Gusty, Ziggy and I went for a walk through Mnt Tabor park and enjoyed the spring air!

March 14th

Woke up to another beautiful day in Portland! I had uncle duty and dropped Amelia off at school today! She was very helpful and gave me directions all the way there. We also were sure to bring her book to school to show her teacher that she in-fact has the same one at home! After this I got a few supply’s to black out my window inserts and a new cone for Ziggy as he hurt his leg. A very productive day and Ethan and Gusty took me out to a delicious dinner at Pok Pok. This place was awesome and had very authentic Thai food, brought me right back to Asia!

March 15th

Today, I got an exciting package from my sister! A TinTin key chain from a Pairs Antique market! For those that don’t know “Milou” is the name of the dog from “The Adventure’s of Tin Tin” – the French addition. “Snowy” is his name in the english version but I found that to be boring 😉

With the weather so nice, and me not doing anything but driving around as of late! I decided to don my running shoes and go for my first spring run. It was anything but fast but it was very refreshing and I got a bit of exercise!

This afternoon I packed up my belongings, as I was heading to my dear friends Jack and Laurens house for the weekend. Who live in St. John which is on the Northern side of Portland. I got there at about 7pm. Parked and we headed out for a great night of celebrating and delicious eats!

March 16th

Had a relaxed morning in Portland. Tried out a local spot in St. John with Jack and Lauren known for delicious treats. The food was great but we did not have the best bar tender in the world and our Irish coffees although fancy, ended up being quite oily and not so delicious 🙁

In the afternoon we headed off over the St. Johns bridge for a hike up thru the Forest Park to the Skyline Tavern. A fun little spot up on the ridge. Enjoyed some food and views before catching a ride back into town.

For the evening we headed out to some bars down town for St. Patty day Celebrations and stayed up far too late!

March 17th

I woke up today with a bit of a cough and a soar throat. Oh no! I think I am getting sick! I tried to rally at breakfast and although it was delicious I had zero energy 🙁 So I took the day pretty easy and just hung out with Jack and Lauren. I took a few naps and lots of Zicam, hoping to defeat the cold before my Dad arrived!

Headed back to Ethan and Gusty’s for the night.

March 18th

Still not feeling great… Slept a lot. Packed up a few things and did a bit of planning for my Dads arrival at 6pm. And played with the kids in between!

I headed off to the Airport in the Tesla as Ethan and I both thought my Dad should give it a test drive! I picked him up at 6pm and handed him the key card and we hit home on the screen and were off! We had so much fun driving home we missed our exit… oops!

Gusty made a delicious carrot ginger soup for dinner and once the boys got home from Lacrosse practice, we sat down for a wonderful meal! It was a great meal and fun to catch up and share stories. Then off to bed!

March 19th

My Dad and I had a very important Job today. Given it was Thatchers biography ball, it was up to us to get Amila out of bed and off to school! She of course was a Princess and very easy and I only had to make minor negotiations to get her out the door 🙂

After dropping her off at school, my Dad and I went to Coava for some delicious coffee. We took a small driving tour before heading back to Ethan and Gusty’s to pack up!

Once we were packed up, Ethan got home and took us out on a tour of his building projects. Some pretty cool stuff going on. We also got to see some pretty cool machines!

Then back to the House and my Dad and I were off to the Oregon coast!

Thank you Ethan, Gusty and the Gang for all the hospitality and letting me drop into your family life! So fun to hang with you and be apart of the mix! I hope to see you all soon!!

After we left Ethan and Gusty’s we headed into town and had a delicious sandwich per Ethans Recommendation at Olympia Provisions. Then we headed to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. The home of the Spruce Goose! A pretty cool place and what an amazing accomplishment it was to build that plane!

Spruce Goose facts

• The wing span is 320′
• It is made mostly of Birch not Spruce
• It flew once and would likely have flown again if the war had not ended
• The floats on the wing where filled with beachballs in the event they where punctured.

We made it all the way to the Oregon coast and although it was almost dark we found a great campsite Gusty’s parents had recommended. It was right on the beach Bluff called Tillicum Beach campground. I’ll show you a picture in the AM.